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Sheldon drops South photo by Alex Szlachtianshyn By Greg Stiles South Medford has its eyes on returning to the Class 4A girls basketball playoffs and perhaps a trip to the state tournament. The Panthers got an up close look at a team capable of walking off with state tournament hardware Tuesday night and learned a painful lesson in the process. The Sheldon Irish � ranked No. 4 in the coaches� poll and No. 8 by the Associated Press � were too tall, too quick and good shooters to boot as they breezed to a 60-41 non-conference win at the South Medford gym. "This is a game that lets us know what we need to do against quality teams," South coach Andrea Wegner said. "They�re a pretty darn good team. This gives us a clear idea of what we need to work on." Sheldon coach Luke Roth calls this his best and deepest team in 17 years at the Eugene school. Even with two regulars out because of injury and a third because of illness, the Irish (2-1) are a load. They bounced back from a 57-52 loss to Oregon City (AP�s No. 1) with a 49-35 triumph over No. 5 Crescent Valley. "This is a special team," Roth said, noting five of the nine seniors have spent four years on the varsity squad. Sheldon�s three-pronged scoring attack of Paige Ford, Laurie Slonecker and Alexa Saleeby combined for 46 points as the Irish connected on 26 of 56 (.464) shots from the field, while South netted just 16 of 57 (.281) attempts. Ford scored 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. The 6-foot sophomore won the Midwestern League 100- and 200-meter championships and the 100 hurdles last spring. "She played soccer and then sprained her ankle at the start of practice and was out for two weeks," Roth said. "She�s only practiced twice, but we�ve had her for every game." Slonecker, a 6-foot-1 post, finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Saleeby, a 5-10 forward, scored 14 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, dished out three assists and had two steals. For a while, South hung with Irish. An eight-point spurt capped by Karla Zenz�s putback gave the Panthers an 8-4 lead three minutes into the contest. But Tera Pica�s layin with 47 seconds left gave Sheldon an 11-10 lead at the end of the first period. After giving up six offensive rebounds in the first quarter, Sheldon snared seven of its own missed shots in the second quarter. "We had to start picking it up," Slonecker said. "Once we did we were able to stop them offensively." A layin by Zenz, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, gave South its final lead 10 seconds into the second quarter, 13-12. Sheldon scored the next eight points to take an 18-12 led on Saleeby�s layin with five minutes left in the half. South whittled the deficit to 18-15 on Lindsey McHenry�s putback. But the Irish went on an 8-3 run the rest of the half to lead 26-18 at intermission. The Panthers trimmed Sheldon�s lead to four points early in the third quarter. But after Whitney Grant scored on a feed from Emily Perttu to make it 30-26 with 5:56 left in the third quarter, Sheldon scored six straight to push the lead to 36-26. Slonecker ended a 15-7 run with two baskets that put the Irish on top, 45-33, heading to the fourth quarter. "We were trying to keep them to one shot and they were getting a lot of second and third shots," said Grant, who had 14 points and four rebounds for the Panthers. "On offense, we needed to get more movement and pass the ball quicker." SHELDON (60) � Josephson 2, Ford 16, Slonecker 16, Crasilneck 0, Saleeby 14, Pica 5, Barker 0, Faville 5, Wheeler 0, B. Barker 0, M. Barker 0, Witherspoon 2. Totals: 26-56 6-15 60. SOUTH MEDFORD (41) � Perttu 4, Wright 2, Grant 14, Hunt 0, Berkey 0, McHenry 2, Thomas 9, Mueller 0, Zenz 10. Totals: 16-57 6-10 41. Sheldon...................................................11 15 19 13 � 60 South Medford...........................................10 8 15 8 � 41 3-point goals � Sheldon 2 (Ford 2), South Medford 3 (Grant 2, Thomas 1). Fouled out � Thomas. JV score � Sheldon 63,South Medford 55. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4483, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.